Different countries have different reasons to experience slow growth and recessions. The main factor you need to take into account is that growth is calculated based on the previous years’ performance. Not on the previous five years’ performance, not on the previous 10 years’ performance. If you performed poorly last year, your country could have strong growth rates, although most people could be struggling in your economy. The opposite is also true, as if you had a good year in 2015 but slow growth in 2016 then your economy could still be robust.

Overall, prohibitive transportation costs by land and by sea has contributed to the slow growth. The proliferation of loans for housing and small businesses has also contributed to the slow growth. Finally, fluctuations in commodity prices, with raw materials and agricultural products prices going way up and then falling way down has contributed to the recession.